


For Your Own Good

by orphan_account



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Kamal/Habit flavored, but like they're exes and it's barely talked about here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22174753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: If anyone's getting rid of her, then it has to be someone who loves her.
Kudos: 23





	For Your Own Good

She smiles at him, grinning almost malevolently as green smoke pours from her chimneys. Habit grows dizzy at the sight of her. At the weight of what he has to do crushing him from the insides.

The carnival attendants approach him. Habit glances over his shoulder and offers a smile, refusing to show his teeth. They back down, but watch nervously. (Well, not really; they're still smiling. But Habit can tell that's how they really feel.)

"Martha," he says, facing the evil grin once more. Her teeth glint in the light of the morning.

He's hiding something behind his back. He takes a step closer.

"We can't...do this. We aren't making people Happy. We're...giving them more frownies, you know..."

And he could swear that Martha's smile fades.

Slowly, he removes his hands from behind his back. In his right hand, trapped in his tight, panicked grip, a crowbar.

"I'm sorry."

He hits.

A tooth shatters, and he gasps out. Flinching back, he hits again. Part of her lip collapses.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

Hit.

She wheezes, groaning in pain as she collapses in on herself. Teeth ground to dust and chimneys of smoke in what looks like a tangled web of limbs.

With shaking hands, Habit hears the crowbar clattering to the ground, but he doesn't register it.

He collapses to his knees, and sobs.

Three pairs of hands are at him, instantly. "It's okay, Father." "Dad, you don't have to cry."

Then a forth, a hand on his cheek. "Dr. Habit?"

Habit opens his eyes and lifts his head.

It's Kamal.

Upon seeing each other, they both jump back. Habit into the arms of the carnival attendants, and Kamal landing roughly on the ground.

"Sorry. I should have done that, should I? I mean, we're not...not anymore, you know..."

"Kamal," Habit whispers, a grin breaking through his tears. It slips into a frown again. "You're still here? But the Big Event..."

"I was..." Afraid to leave? Unable to find my car? Staying on a dare? No, the truth. "I had to help Flower Kid."

Dr. Habit gets up. "Oh."

He extends a hand. Kamal hesitates a moment, then takes it and stands.

"I thought I could turn off Martha, too," Kamal murmurs.

Habit wipes his eyes. "No. You could not. I did it. I had to."

Kamal nods. In a way, he understands. There aren't a lot of people who understand Habit, but Kamal likes to think that, for the most part, he does.

"You did the right thing," Kamal says. "Um...I should...well, I guess I do need to go home..."

No, no, that feels wrong!

"Kamal?"

"Yes?" he responds, a little too excitedly.

Habit takes something out of his pocket and hands it to him. It's a flower, a lily, beautiful and...

Oh.

So that's what happened.

Kamal recognizes the flower, same as the kind Habit used to have. But that one wilted as Habit stopped caring for it to focus on dentistry, which frustrated him terribly. Kamal remembers the day Habit threw it out in a rage, only to have one of the top five _worst_ mental breakdowns Kamal has witnessed from him.

And Flower Kid...of course.

Of course they did.

"It's beautiful," Kamal says, going to hand it back.

Habit puts his hands up.

"Oh," Kamal says.

He glances down at the flower.

It really is a nice gesture.

"Uh, Dr. Habit? If you want I could drive you...you guys," he adds, glancing at the eager faces of the carnival attendants, "home? You know? I don't think you have a car..."

**Author's Note:**

> *thinking about that bob's burgers episode that kept talking about old yeller* *has never actually read old yeller*


End file.
